Pauline

Where Pauline comes from

From French Pauline, in turn from Latin Paulīna; in regular use since the 19th century. By surface analysis, Paul + -ine (feminine suffix).
— Wiktionary's entry for Pauline
  • Latin
  • 2 syllables
  • Vowel-ended
Along the way
  1. 1780
    Pauline Bonaparte born
    French princess
  2. 1821
    Pauline Viardot born
    French mezzo-soprano and composer
  3. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #115 among girls — 144 babies in the first year on record.
  4. 1915
    Peak, #32
    6,334 babies named Pauline — more than any year before or since.
  5. 1935
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #80.
In the dictionary
  • A female given name from Latin.
Namesakes
  • Pauline Bonaparte · French princess, 1780–1825
  • Pauline Viardot · French mezzo-soprano and composer, 1821–1910
  • Pauline Kael · American film critic, 1919–2001
  • Pauline Collins · British actress, 1940–2025
  • Pauline Ferrand-Prévot · French bicycle racer, born 1992

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.